New technology and innovative policies to improve yields by aiding farmers.
Sudan, Africa’s largest country by area, is transforming wheat production by harnessing new technology toward enhancing productivity through addressing of crosscutting issues, such as soil fertility water management, and capacity development among wheat farmers.
The Sudanese government, working with the African Development Bank and wheat industry stakeholders, is implementing a new initiative, the Technologies for African Agriculture (TAAT) program, which has helped to increase wheat production from 472,000 tons in 2014-15 to 1.15 million tons in 2019-20.
The increase has been attributed to the TAAT program, spearheaded by the African Development Bank (AfDB), as part of the pan-African financing institution’s Feed Africa Strategy 2016-25.
Under the TAAT program, wheat farmers are supported to access new irrigation systems and climate-smart seeds that withstand temperatures of up to 100 degrees F. In addition, farmers are provided training on how to “plant, nurture, and harvest this new heat-tolerant wheat variety,” according to the AfDB.
Under the TAAT program, wheat farmers are supported to access new irrigation systems and climate-smart seeds that withstand temperatures of up to 100 degrees F.
“Technologies for African Agriculture is the Bank’s effort to put the best technologies in the hands of farmers to help them become more resilient, increase their productivity, and become agribusinesses,” said Martin Fregene, the Bank’s director for agriculture and agro-industry in a report on how TAAT is transforming wheat production in Sudan.
Increased Production
During the 2020-21 marketing year, Sudan’s wheat production totaled 900,000 tons, nearly 24% higher than the previous marketing year and 50% above the five-year national average.
This impressive performance of the wheat sector in Sudan is likely to have contributed to the country’s national surge in overall cereal production in 2020-21 to almost 8 million metric tons (MT), up 12% from 2019 and 25% higher than the average of the past five years, according to statistics by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) statistics.
Moreover, the acreage under wheat in Sudan also has been expanding in the past few years, from 224,700 hectares in 2014-15 to 315,500 hectares in 2019-20.
“The increased area under coverage, production, and productivity were remarkable achievements resulting from strong partnerships, support, and dedication from stakeholders, not least of all farming communities themselves,” reads a report by the International Center for Agriculture Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), a nonprofit agricultural research institute that aims to improve the livelihoods of the resource-poor across the world’s dry areas. The center is supported by CGIAR, a global partnership that unites international organizations engaged in research about food security.
FAO’s most recent updates indicate that the sowing of the 2020-21 wheat crop commenced in irrigated areas, including the Gezira irrigation scheme, in December 2020. As of Jan. 25, the total planted area was expected at about 357,000 hectares, compared to 318,000 hectares in the previous year and 257,000 hectares of the five-year average, mainly due to the high market prices of the wheat.”
Furthermore, ICARDA says the introduction of the heat-tolerant wheat varieties in Sudan have helped mitigate the impact of drought, pests, and diseases that had been devastating the wheat crop previously.
The heat-tolerant wheat varieties are “environmentally friendly, achieve more with less in an era of water scarcity, support better food security, and help to reduce expensive imports,” according to ICARDA.
Meeting Demand
According to the Central Bank of Sudan, the country imported 1.1 million MT of wheat to meet domestic consumption. The country is dependent on wheat imports, which are an estimated 70% to 80% of the annual consumption.
The national annual consumption was estimated at 2.8 MMT in 2019 and was projected to reach 3.2 MMT in the short term, as the national consumption per capita has c gone beyond 145 pounds.
Sudan’s wheat demand has occasionally been met by supplies of international developers and humanitarian institutions such as the World Food Programme (WFP).
For example, in 2021, and for the second year in a row, WFP announced it was “supporting the government of Sudan to procure and import 200,000 MT of wheat into the country.” This was equivalent to nearly 10% of Sudan’s required wheat import for 2020.
Reliance on imports and the increasing demand for wheat and wheat products has seen the average retail price of wheat exceed 255% in 2021 compared to the previous year, according to the WFP.
With the rising cost of wheat and derived products, the government has been encouraging the use of sorghum flour in wheat bread-making, “due to the limited availability of wheat, mainly imported, supported the high domestic demand,” according to the FAO.
“Cassava Policy”
Sudan joins several other African countries grappling with wheat shortages that are implementing a policy requiring flour millers to blend wheat flour with flour from locally produced crops such as sorghum and cassava.
For example, Nigeria is implementing the policy of blending wheat flour with that derived from cassava under the “Cassava Policy.”
Nigeria, also a net wheat importer, targets significant reduction in wheat imports by requiring flour millers to include between 10% and 20% of cassava flour in the production of bread.
Meanwhile, the future of Sudan’s wheat and wheat products’ market could be shaped by the country’s wheat subsidy policy and the raging civil strife that could pose a threat to local production and distribution of wheat.
Shem Oirere is a freelance writer based in Nairobi, Kenya. He can be reached at shem@shemoirere.com, +254-722-167-733, and shemoirere.com.
